mr-able home design

Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts

More Ciel

This piece has been fun and came a long way, I was hoping to put up some thesis stuff tonight, but that's going to have to wait for Wednesday I think. This still isn't finished: I want to define the buildings more, right now they're just value and color placeholders... and per Sean's suggestions, go ahead and pump up the height/scale of that big building, because why not? It's fantasy art, go for it.

But even just as it is here, I think it's a big improvement on the last piece. And I didn't even mind the last piece too terribly. But this one's better!

And here are some thumbnails to do some more intimate environments for Ciel. I know I'm going to do #4 and #9, but I'm also looking at #2 and #8. And #7. I super dig #7...

The general consensus on the last landscape was that it was uninteresting, so I'm going at it again! Not done yet naturally but I wanted to get something up. I should really work on thesis someday.

I liked doing the color alternatives. This one is okay. Got frustrated with it, and still not quite sure, but that's alright!

Also, my canvas is a perfect square. Not quite sure how that happened. But now I can make coasters for Art Market next year!

Green winter goodness

For me winter goodness comes with a good fire in my fire place but burning through half a forest per season has never really appealed to me. Knowing that the natural wood logs burn with lot's of smoke and create an environment not exactly friendly to our lungs we have for years burned mostly man made logs. It has helped without question to control our youngest son's asthma as well.

These faux logs have improved a lot over the last years and now we have a wide range of choices.

As much as we might think otherwise, burning wood is not at all better then to burn those fire logs we can find in the local super market. I educated myself on different websites and one of the most informative is the one I quoted below!

Duraflame switched from using petroleum-based waxes as a binder, to vegetable paraffin. The vegetable paraffin is used to bind wood sawdust and recycled biomass (like nutshells and unprocessed fibers from food production) so that waste is being put to use rather than out to pasture. The resultant tube is a highly efficient burning log with a much cleaner burn. In terms of duration, a 6-pound Duraflame lasts 3 1/2 hours, which a company representative says is the equivalent of burning 30 pounds of firewood. Since so much less smoke is produced, artificial logs are being recommended over wood logs by many clean air agencies.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/greenest-fire-logs.html#ixzz1DWGUsANZ

There are a few more green fire log option out there, they can be bought through amazon or eBay, they are a little different composed the the Duraflame fire logs. Prices differ as well.

One of the hottest fake logs on the market is the Java Log—made from old coffee grounds. The manufacturer gets the old grounds from companies that make instant coffee, as well as from a few coffee houses, diverting 20 million pounds of coffee waste from landfills. Natural vegetable wax is used to hold the grounds together. Coffee has a higher heat density than wood, so these actually burn hotter than wood logs.

Most supermarkets in our area sell a variety of brands, look what's available near you!

So, if you next time around crave for a fire on your crate, think of these faux logs as real winter goodness!

Who knew coffee burns so well?

XX
Victoria

Jade Statue, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

I submitted four pieces to the Society of Illustrators' student competition this year: the butterfly and dice still life I did a year ago, the reflected city landscape, the Vibhishana final, and this. I was going over my pieces with Rubino and the most drastic suggestion he had was adding that rightmost foreground tree -- I know it's not exactly a new piece, but I was so happy with how it changed the composition that I wanted to repost the new version.

Wish me luck with SoI! Let's bring the battle to 'em, MICA!

Jade Statue, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

91, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

This is the final for the thumbnails I posted a few days ago. After painting rocks and water, it was nice to try something completely different.

This was for "91," a fun text-based RPG that's retro and yet with a modern story. Play it here, free online:

91.

91, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

Developed through a partnership of the China North Vehicle Yongji Electric Motor Corporation and the Southwest Jiaotong University, the new energy fuel cell light-rail train combines hydrogen fuel cells and an advanced permanent-magnet synchronous motor/frequency converter to achieve top speeds approaching 220 miles an hour.

According to CNN, the completion of China's $300 billion high-speed train system will make the world's largest, fastest, and most technologically sophisticated.

The permanent-magnet synchronous motor offers the high speed rail system immense power, high efficiency, remarkable energy conservation, low vibration and minimal noise, as well as enabling passengers to travel between Beijing and Shanghai in four hours instead of 10.

The People's Daily Online reports:

It can achieve a level of performance that traditional motors cannot achieve and also can be developed into a special motor and highly-efficient energy-conservation motor to meet specific operational requirements. It can conserve 10 percent to 20 percent of integrated energy on average and has been successfully applied in many fields. It will also aid China's motor industry to adjust its industrial structure toward a new developmental direction.

Just another notch in China's belt as they pursue a position of dominance in the renewable energy industry.

Thesis: Architecture, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

The last of the three landscape paintings. Not quite as strong as the other two, IMO, but I still like it... and it still marks an improvement I think :)

Onward with finals!!

Thesis: Architecture, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

The last of the three landscape paintings. Not quite as strong as the other two, IMO, but I still like it... and it still marks an improvement I think :)

Onward with finals!!

The architectural one is still on the way, but for now these two are fini. Took long enough! :)

Finished? And More WIP Landscapes

These two are more progress on the landscapes -- the second of which I haven't posted yet, just some ideas for the architecture and look of the Glass Coffin city, though we don't see it much.

And then this painting might be just about done. Finally!

Finished? And More WIP Landscapes

These two are more progress on the landscapes -- the second of which I haven't posted yet, just some ideas for the architecture and look of the Glass Coffin city, though we don't see it much.

And then this painting might be just about done. Finally!

Finals are in full swing, and I was never satisfied with these paintings (last published here), so I'm glad to have the opportunity to revisit them. They're still not quite finished, and I have a third on the way which I'll be posting up soon, but I'm much happier with them as they are.

More Ciel

More Ciel

Ciel Environment Remix

Ciel Environment Remix

Ciel Environment

Ciel Environment

Green winter goodness

Jade Statue

Jade Statue

"91"

"91"

How many times do I have to say it, we just don't get how far behind we are!!

Thesis: Architecture

Thesis: Architecture

Finished Landscapes... finally!

Finished Landscapes... finally!

Finished? And More WIP Landscapes

Finished? And More WIP Landscapes

Thesis Landscapes

Thesis Landscapes